Serves:4

Holy shit, this dish is amazing.

Amazing.

The heat, the bang, the spices. The whole thing.

We were blown away. It’s part Malaysian, Sri Lankan, maybe Southern Indian. Not sure.

Singaporean?

Though Lordy.

It’s the paste with the coconut. I’m sure of it.

This is a stir-fry curry that you have to do. This is a home run.

When we find a new curry that is so unique, we smile.

This is one of them.

Serve with lots of rice and plenty of white wine and here is your night done.

Ingredients

1/4 c ghee (or vegetable oil)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
3cm ginger, finely shredded
3 green cayenne chillies, thinly sliced
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
500gm chicken thigh, cut into bite sized pieces
Large pinch of black pepper
Juice of half a lime
Extra fried curry leaves to serve

Spice paste

1 tbsp vegetable oil
100gm coarsely grated coconut flesh (or 50gm desiccated coconut)
2 cloves
3 cardamom pods
5 black peppercorns
1cm piece of cinnamon quill
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander

Method

1. For the spice paste, heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add the coconut, cloves, cardamom pods, peppercorns and cinnamon, and cook, stirring occasionally, until coconut is golden brown. Add ground spices and cook for another minute. Cool and transfer to a blender. Add 200ml water and blend to a fine paste.
2. Heat ghee or oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add mustard seeds and as soon as they pop, add curry leaves, ginger and green chilli. Cook, stirring frequently until softened: 2 – 3 minutes. Add the onion and cook until golden brown: 2 – 3 minutes. Add garlic, followed by tomatoes and spice paste, stirring each ingredient for a minute, before adding the next one. Season to taste with salt.
3. Add chicken to the pan and cook until golden. Add 250ml hot water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to, cover pan partially until the chicken is cooked and the sauce is thickened. Serve sprinkled with black pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and with extra fried curry leaves.